The Hanover College women’s basketball team withstood a late charge and built a double-digit lead to top the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio), 72-54 in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest.

The teams traded leads for the first few minutes of the game before two Bischoff free throws sparked a 12-4 Hanover run, taking a 20-12 lead with 10:48 remaining in the first period.

Two consecutive Brilyn Webb buckets allowed Mount St. Joseph to cut the Hanover lead to five (25-20) at the 5:49 mark, but Hanover quickly rebuilt and held a double-digit lead over the next three minutes before a Webb three-pointer cut the Hanover lead to 37-30 at intermission.

The Panthers opened the second half with an offensive outburst with Bischoff and Davidson pushing Hanover to a 20-point lead (54-34) with 14:09 to play.

The Lions responded with a scoring run of their own, hitting a barrage of threes to outscore Hanover 17-4 over the next seven minutes.

With the Panthers' lead a slim 57-51 and only 6:13 to play, Davidson sank to two free throws and Watson scored off a Hopkins' steal to stifle the rally.

Hanover hit 7-of-8 free throws during the final 4:05 building a 70-51 lead with 1:06 remaining.

After a Meredith Hartfiel trey, freshman center Jenna Meyer (Greensburg, Ind.) hit a jumper from the left elbow to seal the 72-54 win.

Hanover, which posted its 11th straight win against the Lions, shot 75.8 percent (25-of-33) from the free throw line to improve their overall record to 6-8.

Mount St. Joseph fell to 1-13 and 1-6 in the HCAC.

Brooke Mosler led the Lions with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Webb added 12 points off the bench.